Search engine optimization (SEO) is essential for cannabis dispensaries looking to increase their online visibility and attract new customers. As the cannabis industry continues to expand, cannabis retail shops must stay ahead of the curve and utilize SEO tactics that will help them rise above the competition. In this blog post, we’ll explore a few key SEO tips for cannabis dispensaries. Managing a cannabis dispensary is an exciting challenge. With Meadow, you don't need to be a cannabis marketing maven—from our SEO tips and integrations to integrated CRM and text marketing, we make it easy for you to sell more cannabis with less work.
Optimize Your Site for Local Searches
Nearly half of all Google searches are related to local businesses, so it’s important that your dispensary website is optimized for local search results. Make sure your location is clearly identified on every page of your website, as well as in metadata tags like the title tag and meta description. You should also include your physical address and contact information like phone number and email address on your website. Additionally, register your business with a Google Business Profile to make sure it appears when people search for dispensaries in your area. Especially if you deliver, making location-specific pages is a great way to boost SEO. Make a page unique to each area you serve in order to rank for local keywords like "weed delivery Walnut Creek" etc.
Tips:
- Update your local listings on Google, Yelp, and other sites
- Ask your customers to leave a review! Thank your customers for their loyalty and support with a discount or gift with your dispensary loyalty program.
- Create location-specific pages on your own website - especially if you deliver to multiple cities. For example, if your shop is in Pacifica but you also deliver to the greater Bay Area Peninsula, that way you'll rank for a wider range of search terms to meet customers searching for things like "weed delivery Pacifica" "dispensary near me Pacifica" "cannabis near me San Francisco" as well as "weed delivery Palo Alto" "cannabis near me Half Moon Bay" etc.
- Learn more about Meadow's turnkey cannabis delivery software that makes it easy to service custom geographical zones drawn to your exact specifications with their own taxes, operating hours, and delivery fees.
Create Quality Content
Content plays an important role in any dispensary’s SEO strategy. Creating quality content on a regular basis will help you rank higher in organic search results, as well as establish yourself as an authority in the cannabis industry. This includes writing blog posts on topics related to your dispensary, creating informative product descriptions, and posting engaging video content on YouTube or other video platforms. Quality content will help you establish yourself as an authority in your field and make sure that potential customers know that you are up-to-date with industry trends. Focus on creating content that is helpful and informative, such as education around novel forms of cannabis use or product reviews. You can also create videos or podcasts that offer insights into various aspects of the cannabis industry. Finally, don’t forget to optimize each piece of content with keywords relevant to your dispensary!
Tips:
Create a blog - adding 1,500 words/week to your site is a good place to start - and work in those keywords to titles, headers, etc.
Utilize a CMS (Content Management System) such as WordPress or Webflow for content. Makes it easy to update and optimize your site, as well as improve your technical SEO (link to section below). They have some cheap (or maybe even free) options. Makes it easier for your customers to find you online, helps with SEO and Google results.
Build Links from Relevant Sites
Another important aspect of SEO is link building—that is, acquiring links from other websites that point back to yours. This helps search engines understand what kind of content you have on your site, which can influence where you show up in search results pages (SERPs). In order to get links from other sites, try reaching out to authorities within the cannabis industry who may be interested in linking back to one of your articles or blog posts. You can also submit guest posts or infographics to relevant publications if they accept them; just make sure they link back to your website!
Tips:
- Off Page SEO: Get other websites to link to your website. This is a big booster in SEO!
- One of the best ways to increase the number of backlinks to your website is by creating a YouTube channel and adding links to your site. YouTube videos with backlinks provide Google's search engine results a vote of confidence, giving those videos an edge in the rankings. Consider launching a YouTube channel with short product review videos featuring your most charismatic staff members to drive education for customers as well as increase SEO benefits. Learn more about setting up a YouTube backlink strategy for SEO.
Utilize Google Tag Manager
Google Tag Manager is an essential tool for tracking customer behavior on your website. With GTM, you can gain insights into customers' activity such as product impressions, clicks, adding to or removing from the cart and checkout finalization. Meadow's integration with Google Tag Manager allows an even deeper look into customer actions like tracking product views, add and remove from cart events, checkouts and purchases. Utilizing Google Tag Manager will not only help you optimize user experience but also provide actionable data that allows you to make more informed decisions on which products to promote and how to target potential customers for maximum returns and revenue growth. With a single line of code, Meadow’s mobile-friendly menu lets customers make sales from your own site, and track what they're are clicking on using Google Tag Manager.
Optimize Your Website For Mobile Devices
Mobile usage has grown exponentially over the past decade and now accounts for over half of all web traffic worldwide. That’s why it’s essential that you optimize your website for mobile devices so that users have a smooth experience when they visit your site from their phones or tablets. This includes making sure that images are optimized for mobile devices, reducing page load times, and ensuring that all links are working properly on both desktop and mobile versions of your site.
Add Structure to Your Website
Structuring your website for maximum SEO and customer satisfaction is critical for any business. On page SEO techniques like page titles, meta descriptions, and keyword inclusion are important to make sure search engines can crawl and easily index your page content. Internal website structure, such as headers, can also assist with optimization by providing context to the page's information. Utilizing a content management system (CMS) like Wordpress or Squarespace to add alt text to images helps even further with gaining recognition from search engine bots. Off page SEO strategies like link building and social media promotion boost those efforts even more. But beyond optimizing for search engine visibility, organizing your page layout with clear user experience in mind makes customers feel comfortable browsing through products, viewing special deals and promotions, as well as understanding delivery options, shop hours, and all other relevant information they need before making an informed purchase.
Tips:
- On Page SEO: Add page titles, descriptions, and structure the content on your site - this includes keywords in the right places - think page titles, meta descriptions, alt text, content structure (H1/H2/H3)
- Technical SEO: No broken links, no duplicate content, clear URL structure/sitemap - and make sure your page is fast (visit Google Page Speed Insights to see how your site performs).
- At Meadow, we recommend that our dispensary clients utilize pre-filtered URLs (we can help you generate these) and experiment with adding more content to these pages above the embedded menu, or event experiment with creating brand- or product- specific pages and pre-filtered menu links for unique or hot products, brands, specials, promos, and discounts.
Meadow Tips:
Use pre-filtered URLs on your website and site pages to link to specific product categories, brands, and products on your embedded menu - ask us about meadowQuery
- Install Meadow's GTM integration - Utilize Google Tag Manager to track customer actions on your website. Meadow's GTM integration tracks product impressions, clicks, add/remove from cart, checkouts, and purchase events.
- Ask us about Meadow's Wordpress Plugin
- Reach out to our Customer Success team for instructions!
Optimize for Broad and Narrow Search Terms
Keyboard-based SEO: Adding generic phrases "cannabis gummy", detailed search phrases for the interested (ie: "high-THC strawberry indica gummy"), and very precise search phrases for motivated purchasers (ie: "strawberry 100mg indica gummies from Kanha"). Really look into what customers are searching for and be sure your site includes these variations on search terms.
Tips
Check out these tools that can help you understand keywords and search traffic in your area:
Google Search Console (which can be used to track impressions and click data from Google)
Other Resources:
Get more support from an SEO professional; we recommend the team at Cannasite
SEO Data Points to Analyze
What is the bounce rate (of users leaving your page quickly after arriving)
How long do users spend on a page?
How do they interact with it?
What is the conversion rate?
Don't have the same exact content as everyone or there is no way to differentiate or distinguish your page and others (why would you rate higher than all the other pages that have exactly the same content?)
With these tips in mind, you’ll be well on your way towards optimizing your dispensary’s website for organic search engine traffic. Remember that SEO takes time and effort—you won’t see results overnight—but by following best practices like those outlined above, you can ensure that more potential customers find their way to your digital doorstep over time. Optimizing for SEO may take time but it is well worth it if you want to ensure long-term success for your dispensary.
Learn more about how how Meadow's all-in-one cannabis retail software can make it easy to sell more cannabis with less work.
